Day 29 – Attean Pond, ME, to Jackman, ME

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Start: Campsite on Attean (At-TEE-an) Pond.

End: Campsite (a generous term) on Big Wood Pond, near Jackman, ME

On the Way:  Attean Pond, Moose River, Big Wood Pond, Jackman

Miles: ~(-2).  Milepost: ~520.5

Weather:  Rainy and cloudy in AM, cleared up by sunset, which was cotton-candy pastel.

Map: 10

Whelp, the best-laid plans.  My Zero-Mile day (technically a negative-mile day since I’m camping off the Trail) wasn’t nearly as productive as my time in Island Pond.  That was a hard day to beat, though, plus it was a weekday.  Sundays are tougher for getting things done.

Jackman styles itself the "Switzerland of Maine."  In that it's close to stuff, I guess.

Jackman’s wee library, literally a shed in front of the High School, is only open Wednesday and Saturday 1200-1600.  No chance of visiting it today.  But I did stumble into the Historical Society Museum, where I made insta-friends with Mike the friendly curator, an old-time Mainer with a predilection for military paraphernalia.  He was extremely excited about a recently-donated WWI trench knife, and he had great stories about catching trout with his bare hands in Attean Pond.  He also told me that I camped right across Spencer Lake from an old POW camp.  Creeeeepy.  Anyway, this museum was a gem of a find, and Mike let me use his Internet and print off some trail updates, and check email.  He also had what can only be described as a “fan binder” of previous Through-paddlers who had passed through, most prominently the Read Family that he’d spotted toting their canoe up the road earlier that summer.  He scanned my maps, and I owe him a thank-you note and link to this blog.

The fabulous Historical Society, a High School turned firehouse, then high school again, now stuffed chock full of fascinating local artifacts.

A model trapper/hunter's hut set up outside the museum.

It was cozy inside!  I'd live in one.

I called my friends at Ecolablahblah in Rangely.  My oatmeal pal picked up.  Turns out I remembered incorrectly, and they don’t actually stock The Book.  She had a 1^st edition copy that Katina had sent her for perusal.  She was eager to gift it to me, but I declined, saying it wasn’t going to be immensely useful.  Then my pay phone minutes ran out.  I must send her a follow-up email to explain how grateful I was for the offer, and that I made it through alive.  The mail logistics would also have been tricky: They’d have to get it to Rockwood in less than 2 days at my current pace, and there’s no other convenient Trail town for at least 2 maps.  Ah, well.  As I wrote in my postcard to [my pal in Cambridge and former roommate] dRachel: Fuck it, we’ll do it live!  Sir Ernest Shackleton didn’t have guidebooks!  NEEEEW GOAL!

So tomorrow will entail climbing out of this mosquito-ridden little ATV bog trail where I’m camping for the evening across Wood Pond (where the map listed a campsite, but it either lied or I got there too late to find it), paddling the ~15 minutes back into town, visiting Bishop’s Motel and perhaps the general store for new socks (mine are disintegrating—this evening I put my foot through one of them like it was made of a wet paper bag instead of wet merino wool) and breakfast.  The Motel is where I shipped by box, so I’ll repackage it and send it off at 0900 at the PO, along with my postcards. 

Altogether, today was a day of gluttony, some humdinger mosquito bites, looking at history, and a pleasant read with a pint of local ice cream down by the section of the Moose River that I’ll be blazing down tomorrow.  Last day of Zero-Miling: Now we fly on to Fort Kent!

Things Learned: 

+ Generally a good idea to stop at local historical societies.  Between this one and the one where I spent a fascinating afternoon in Thames, New Zealand, I’ve seen some really cool stuff.  For example, today I learned out the existence of a device called a “weaning muzzle”: basically a halter with spikes near the nose.  Even the most patient mother isn’t going to let you nurse with that on…

Trail Magic: 

+ Back home, Alice my Warrior Bunnies costuming assistant seems on top of things.

+ I had the hamburger equivalent of poutine today: an open-faced patty covered with gravy and eas.  It was calorically resplendent.  I regret nothing.

+ I set a rough pick-up date with Hannah and Zach: October 1.  I can do it!